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Current Affairs

03 October 2011

The New Republic asks “do Latinos like Marco Rubio?” Apparently the first-term Florida senator is on many insiders short list of politically attractive GOP vice presidential nominees. The thinking goes that the all-important Latino vote, once solidly pro Obama but now supposedly wavering because of the President’s perceived lack of movement on immigration reform, will vote Republican in 2012 because there’s now a Brown guy on the ticket who can actually pronounce the word Popocatepetl.

Not that Rubio would actually know about Popocatepetl and the Aztec warrior’s lasting presence on the free calendars of countless Mexican taco joints all across Aztlan. Homeboy Rubio, after all, is Cuban, more familiar with plaintains and Gloria Estefan than, say, carne guisade and Los Tigres del Norte. And there’s the rub. The real question the article asks is will Latinos, 95 per cent of us Other Than Cuban, vote for Rubio.

The consensus seems to be no. Not so much because we hate Cubans, but because this particular Cuban seems to hate Mexicans. Even Ruben Navarrette Jr. -- who’s never met a GOP talking point he couldn’t sneak into one of his columns -- questions Rubio’s barrio street cred with fellow raza. As Junior points out, Rubio supported the Arizona anti-immigrant law, co-sponsored a bill to promote E-Verifying of workers, and came out against the Dream Act. Marco Rubio, the proud son of immigrants.

No word yet on whether Rubio also wants draw mustaches on Virgen de Guadalupe murals, but if these are his positions on Latino issues adding homeboy to a Republican presidential ticket is not going to make the difference come 2012.

Besides, according to some, Rubio may not even be a “natural born citizen.” Seems Rubio’s parents were not naturalized citizens when little Marco was born in Miami. According to the constitutional interpretation of certain crazies birthers, this means Rubio is not a “natural born citizen,” and thus ineligible for the office. First Obama and now Rubio. Or as Joey Ramone says, second verse, same as the first. Only now in Spanish.

And while most right-wing pundits are not comfortable with the potentially adverse political implications of knee-capping one of their few rising Brown political stars, they are trying to put as good a spin as possible on the chorus of dissenting voices. From the Daily Caller: “The good news here, of course, is that the rise of Rubio birthers proves that birthers are not merely partisan hypocrites who solely attack Democrats like Obama. They are, instead, either consistent racists — or consistently misguided adherents to the Constitution.”

I vote that they are both.

And while I admit those questioning Rubio’s eligibility are, for now, truly a crackpot fringe, the real test is to see what happens if the questioning continues and grows: Will the Fox News/Rush Limbaugh Republican echo chamber pick up and carry the Rubio citizenship argument with the same 24/7 fervor they did when questioning Obama’s supposed Kenyan birth?

I’m guessing they won’t. They need to win Florida. About the only place left in the browning of America that a Cuban politician who wants to send kids back to Mexico can still be guaranteed to win the Latino vote.

25 September 2010

"Do you want some horchata?"And thus began Season 2 of Parenthood, the NBC drama about an upper class white family in the Bay Area. Typing this, I realize saying a TV family is White is way redundant. But I emphasize the point because of the incongruous nature of the tasty Mexican rice drink smack dab in a gringo kitchen. I mean, a buck-fifty street corner drink whirring about in a fancy blender amongst the Pottery Barn decor? Crazy. What, were the Bravermans out of wheat germ for their morning smoothies?

Still, the Horchata line was, from my perspective, a bizarre and gratifying moment. Wonderfully strange because of the aforementioned discordant presence of Mexican drink in a Norman Rockwell household: cheeky; gratifying in its suggestion that Latino culture is seeping, slowly -- horchata glass by horchata glass -- into the so-called mainstream of America. Well, at least into its one-hour drama scripts. Which, again, from my perspective, is not a bad thing at all. I love television. All of which is an admittedly long-winded intro to theme of this week's episode of Connect the Dots: the fall TV season has begun. And lots of Phantom sightings of Brown people among the pilots, second season repeats, and sitcoms.

First up, famed African American actor Blair Underwood plays a Cuban on NBC's The Event. Billed as 24 meets Lost, the intentionally puzzling show is under scrutiny because of it's unintentionally puzzling casting decision: Underwood plays a Latino. An Afro-Cuban to be precise. A color-blind casting choice which has left more than a few Latinos-Who-Care-About-Such-Things angry, because, well...probably because Blair Underwood isn't Latino. Nor is he Cuban (Afro or otherwise). He's not Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Venezuelan, Brazilian, or even from South Central. Jose Vasconcelos' utopian theory of La Raza Cosmica notwithstanding, I'm going to have to side with the angry Raza on this one. Not so much because it's the same old story of Latinos not getting a chance to actually play a Latino (which it is), but Blair Underwood as a Cuban? Puh-lease. Check out the Latino debate here. And the Latina mag story, glossing over the controversy, here.

Two new judges picked for American Idol. Simon Cowell out, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and Selena impersonator Jennifer Lopez in. I am a big Aerosmith fan from waaaay back in the day. And I'm not talking the corny "Crazy" 90s era Aerosmith, with the Alicia Silverstone jailbait videos, I'm talking "Dream On," "Toys in the Attic" badass early 70s Aerosmith. Not sure, though, how I feel about J-Lo's legitimacy as a judge for a singing competition. At least one in which contestants actually have to sing and not have their voices layered, over produced and digitally processed to hit certain notes. Go here for an unadulterated version of what Lopez sounds like before the sonic magic of Pro Tools. Be forewarned. It ain't pretty.

Speaking of judges, the one new TV show with an actual Latino in the lead is Jimmy Smit'sOutlaw, also on NBC. Smits plays Cyrus Garza, a conservative Supreme Court Justice who in made up TV world was appointed by George Bush. (I'm guessing Will Smith was not available to play the Mexican American character.) The right-wing Garza's got daddy issues since his lefty Chicano father was buddies with Cesar Chavez and RFK back in the radical 60s. A quick scene of Garza watching Papi and his 60's New Left amigos on YouTube and ten minutes into Episode 1 the now remorseful Garza quits the Supreme court over a death penalty case. Great. The first Latino Supreme Court Justice on prime time TV and the vato quits before the first commercial break. How's that for a role model right at the start of High-spanic Heritage month? Oh, and did I mention homeboy's depicted as a playboy and degenerate gambler? Big deal. So the producers got some stuff right. Thankfully, in the real world, we've got salsa loving Sonia Sotomayor for our heroes. She's a badass. And probably would have made a better American Idol judge than Jenny from the Block.

"Do you want some horchata?"

Did I mention the words were spoken by actress Sarah Ramos (picture above), who plays the eldest Braverman kid? Apparently Miss Ramos is Latina. I didn't know that. She's featured this week among the young Raza celebrities in Latina mag's 25 Brightest Latino Stars Under 25. I would have probably guessed wrong on the Latinoness of many on the list. Sara Paxton? Jake T. Austin? Ni modo. These actors, and others of the Bright 25, claim their Raza bonafides by having one parent Mexican, or Argentinian, or Spanish, or a mixture of all of the above. And who am I to disagree. Talk about the future is Meztizo. La Raza Cosmica indeed. Still, one name on the list stirred the rabid cultural nationalist in me: Levi Johnson? Latino? C'mon, we have to set some kind of
standard here.

Finally, the Senate Republicans in one fell filibustering swoop prevent the Defense Authorization Act from making it to the Senate floor. That's right, they didn't vote against it. They voted to not even let it be debated and voted upon. Amongst the casualties in the bill's failure are Don't Ask Don't Tell and the Dream Act, amendments added to the bill. Both measures affect millions, and both are significant to America's future. DADT deals with a wide section swath of U.S. citizens spanning all economic groups, a lot of them rich, organized, and politically connected. The Dream Act deals with a bunch of non-voting, illegal Brown kids wanting to go to college. How does this news fit our TV theme post? No surprise which group affected by the rejection of the Senate bill got the media's attention the next day. On Rachel Maddow's cable show, for instance, nearly 4/5ths of her progressive show dealt with DADT. The Dream Act? Two brief mentions totally about 15 seconds in the 60 minute show. A quick glimpse of the headlines in papers across the country reflected the same invisibility. Tavis Smiley, at least, addressed this very issue. Props to him. But the discussion took place on his radio show. And so who did Tavis feature that same night on his popular nationally broadcast PBS TV show? Ken Burns.

Do you want some horchata? Yes, please, with a shot of Tequila in it...

16 September 2010

They keep NOT letting me post in the comment section of Huffington Post. I try putting 'em up, their censor moderator keeps deleting 'em. Just trying to politely point out the fact that their list lacks Raza. I'm starting to get annoyed.

I'm giving my fellow progressives the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps it's my typos that's preventing me from participating in the grand discourse. We'll see. If they don't watch it someone's in line for a Wet Burrito Award.

29 September 2009

According to Guanabee.com, the source for contemporary Cuban-American pop culture news, the New Jersey School board has canceled an upcoming concert at the Union City High School by someone named CuCu Diamantes, who I'm guessing is a singer of some importance since she has a website, performed for the Obama inauguration (albeit in the de facto second-tier "Latino Inaugural Gala"), and, finally, was nominated for a Latin Grammy.

But come to think of it, who hasn't been nominated for a Latin Grammy? But that's a whole other blog post. You get the picture: homegirl is famous in certain circles.

Apparently so much so that angry Cuban-Americans don't want the singer to appear in front of their children. CuCu, it seems, sang in Cuba last week...in public...(cue Crickets SFX)...and, well, yeah, I don't get it either. But who am I to talk? Back in my home state of Texas the lunatic fringe over there was leading the national fight to stop Obama from telling kids to study hard and stay in school.

So in these politically complicated times let us turn to a simpler and more rocking Union City. From Blondie, circa 1979, the year the Sandanistas overthrew Somoza and Fidel was there cheering them on, issues with more weight than, say, pop stars lip-synching in the school quad, I leave you with one badass music video (I am sooo jealous of that opening helicopter shot), "Union City Blue"...

23 April 2009

One of the highlights of this weekend's National Association of Independent Producer's conference (a high point, of course, rivaling the sight of a famous director -- who shall remain unnamed -- doing the Worm on the dance floor) was the inspiring speech filmmaker and playwright Luis Valdez delivered at the Friday luncheon.

Well, at least I was told it was one of the highlights. I arrived late to the conference on that Friday afternoon, and my only viewing of the great Luis Valdez was watching the director of the classic film La Bamba carrying his luggage out of the hotel. And for those of you wondering, I can safely report the vato tipped the valets well so my high esteem of the Chicano icon remains high. Even more impressive? The valets were all white dudes. It was that fancy a hotel. You don't seen that demographic represented amongst the usual raza-filled occupation.

But I digress. Back to the speech. NALIP has uploaded an mp3 of the Luiz Valdez here. Historical. Inspirational. Political. It is very badass.

Included above is part I of Valdez' first film, I Am Joaquin (1969), based on the poem by Corky Gonzales.

15 October 2008

Guanabee reports Rocktober 26th as Wonder Woman Day. That's cool, but I'm more proud of the fact that Lynda Jean Cordoba Carter -- with the Mexican mom named Juana -- has taken a stand on the Presidential race. Not sure whether or not Carter's a Republican, but for sure homegirl's not a fan of Sarah Palin, and that's good enough for me. From the Hill's blog, where among other opinions, Carter calls Alaska first-time governor the "anti-Wonder Woman."

"I like John McCain," Carter said. "But this
woman [Palin] — it's anathema to me what she stands for. I think America should
be very afraid. Very afraid."

Speaking of the aw-shucks, smiling Hockey mom, seems la Palin hates Black people too. According to this video, the governor won't hire blacks, refuses to recognize Juneteenth Day, and can't stand Beyonce. Well, ok...not positive on the Beyonce claim, but Palin did invite Hank Williams Jr. to serenade the "Barack's a Terrorist!"-yelling crowd at a recent McCain/Palin campaign event, where Williams changed the lyrics to his hit 'Family Tradition' from allusions to his drinking and drug taking ways to rhyming lines blaming the Democrats for the collapse of Fannie Mae.

Unclear at this point whether or not Palin hates Mexicans. Still, to be fair and balanced, and as I posted earlier, knocked-up daughter Bristol and her baby's daddy Levi seem to be down with the Chicanos. I applaud that. In fact, there's a free plate of Puffy tacos for the happy loving couple if they ever visit San Antonio, but since there's not a lot of Raza up in Alaska (yet), it's hard to to make a conclusion about the la Mom's feelings about brown people. But judging by the views expressed at this recent Palin rally, I'm guessing she's got some issues:

08 October 2008

Before everyone gets all giddy in the wake of Obama's winning performance in last night's debate and starts booking trips to the multi-culti inaugural, it might be useful to read this recent report on how race may affect the voting:

Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House
if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found
one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many
calling them "lazy," "violent," responsible for their own troubles.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents — voters
Obama can't win the White House without — agreed with at least one
negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are
significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have
such views.

These are white Democrats we're talking about. Democrats. Can you imagine the numbers if they polled Republicans? According to the study, conducted with Stanford University, if the election is as close as it was in 2004, the racist vote will be large enough to give the election to John "That Guy" McCain.

I hope the study is wrong, but it looks as if their data is correct. Typically, high polling numbers for a Black candidate, like Obama now has, have always been viewed with some skepticism. A white voter, it was assumed, wouldn't want to reveal to a pollster any opposition to a black candidate, afraid it would make the voter appear racist. This s0-called Bradley effect explains the difference between a black candidates high poll numbers and a much narrower edge -- or outright loss -- on election day. Supposedly, this latest Obama poll took that phenomenon into consideration. Again, I hope they're wrong:

The AP-Yahoo News poll used the unique methodology of Knowledge
Networks, a Menlo Park, Calif., firm that interviews people online
after randomly selecting and screening them over telephone. Numerous
studies have shown that people are more likely to report embarrassing
behavior and unpopular opinions when answering questions on a computer
rather than talking to a stranger.

Given a choice of several positive and negative adjectives that might
describe blacks, 20 percent of all whites said the word "violent"
strongly applied. Among other words, 22 percent agreed with "boastful,"
29 percent "complaining," 13 percent "lazy" and 11 percent
"irresponsible." When asked about positive adjectives, whites were more
likely to stay on the fence than give a strongly positive assessment.

Among white Democrats, one third cited a negative adjective and, of those, 58 percent said they planned to back Obama.

The poll sought to measure latent prejudices among whites by asking
about factors contributing to the state of black America. One finding:
More than a quarter of white Democrats agree that "if blacks would only
try harder, they could be just as well off as whites."

Those who agreed with that statement were much less likely to back Obama than those who didn't.

The best appeal to address this issue is direct confrontation. Check out this very badass speech by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka to union members telling them to get over their prejudice against blacks and vote for the guy who will best help their interests:

14 August 2008

Fearing my brain would quickly turn upside down, I had to set aside, momentarily, my copy of Jane Mayer's new book The Dark Side, a sobering account detailing the Bush administration's elevation of torture from abhorrent medieval practice loved by the Inquisition (and certain Nazis) to officially sanctioned U.S. policy. There is only so much trampling of the rule of law I can take in one sitting, thank you very much Alberto "The Geneva Convention is Quaint" Gonzales. I needed to take a walk. To clear my head. To think back on those halcyon days when Torquemada was the bad guy and not, say, some mid level U.S. government lawyer armed with dubiously written memos so Top Secret no one's allowed to read them and thus judge their legality.

Heading out the front door, I grabbed my trusty iPod shuffle. This is the tiny iPod not only with the ability to cram 500 plus songs in its miniscule flash drive but also the iPod with the wonderful inability to then choose said particular song from the 500 plus playlist. There is no screen on this iPod. You can't see song titles. And it has only one button -- Press; you are at the mercy of whatever tune comes next.

Personally, I like this randomness and the ensuing musical juxtapositions. Hank Williams next to Los Tigres del Norte next to Pantera. Sublime. And sometimes, like this time, as I was heading out the door beginning my walk and pressing Play, actual meaning can be divined from what appears to be mere chance, sort of like a Magic 8 Ball, only with songs: Dylan's Tombstone Blues, you see (listen here), comes up right away. I listen to the lyrics. And, as usual, in the context of Bush's "Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals"I was just reading, Mr. Zimmerman proves as prescient as he is poetic:

Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thiefLooks up at his hero the Commander-in-ChiefSaying, "Tell me great hero, but please make it briefIs there a hole for me to get sick in?"

The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a flySaying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"And dropping a bar bell he points to the skySaying, "The sun's not yellow it's chicken"

There's even a reference, I submit, to my fellow Tejano, Alberto Gonzales. The waterboarding vato is, I suggest, the "faithful slave" named "Pedro" Dylan sings about here:

Gypsy Davey with a blowtorch he burns out their campsWith his faithful slave Pedro behind him he trampsWith a fantastic collection of stampsTo win friends and influence his uncle

Admittedly, I'm not sure who Gypsy Davey could be. Donald Rumsfield perhaps? But my theory is worth exploration. I'll get back to you after closer readings.

And believe me, the words make much better sense when you hear Dylan sing them. So again, go here to listen to the 1965 song off of Highway 61 Revisited, a cut one critic described as "if Salvador Dali or Luis Bunel had picked up a Fender Strat to head a blues band, they might have come up with something like 'Tombstone Blues.'"